BEIJING, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- China's refitted aircraft carrier sailed for its second sea trial on Tuesday for relevant scientific research and experiments, Chinese Ministry of National Defense said in a press release.

According to the press release, prior to sailing, the aircraft carrier had completed all the refitting and testing work as scheduled after its first sea trial in August.

The carrier was originally built by the former Soviet Union which named it Varyag, yet failed to complete the ship's construction before collapsing in 1991. The still-unnamed aircraft carrier was an empty shell. Ukraine disarmed it and removed its engines before selling it to China.

The vessel, an Admiral Kuznetsov class aircraft carrier which measures 304.5 meters long and 37 meters wide, with a displacement of 58,500 metric tons, has been totally refitted for its new role as a research and training platform in China.

The vessel departed for its first trial from a port in Dalian, a city in northeast China's Liaoning Province on Aug. 10.

The building of an aircraft carrier is a long and complex project. In the building process, there will be a series of scientific research experiments and training exercises, and such activities are routine and normal.

Currently, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Spain, Italy, India, Brazil and Thailand, operate a total of 21 active-service aircraft carriers.

Only days after planespotters photographed Pakistan Air Force's Y8 ZDK-03 AEW bird (serial number 11-001) at the Chengdu Airport, the China Air Force's equivalent is also spotted in Shanyang (733). It seems there is credence to the rumor that the China Air Force is interested in procuring some ZKD-03s for its own use.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

The recent China Navy's West Pac drill in international waters draws little notice outside of Asia but the reaction from Japan is once again over-the-top........ Just love that Einstein look alike actor/naval expert they used on TV.

PLA naval fleet to go for exercise in western Pacific

(Source: Xinhua) 2011-11-24

BEIJING, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The People's Liberation Army (PLA) naval fleet will go for routine training in the western Pacific in late November, according to a written statement issued by China's Ministry of National Defense.

The annual regular training is in accordance with relevant international laws and practice, and not directed toward any particular country or goal, the statement said.

China's lawful rights, including free navigation in relevant waters, should not be hindered, the statement added.

BEIJING, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Joint police patrols along the Mekong River will kick off in mid December to restore security after a deadly attack to Chinese ships in October.

Chinese police will start patrols along the river with Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, said a statement from the Ministry of Public Security here Saturday.

No exact date was given, but the first joint patrol will be carried out before Dec. 15, said the statement, issued after a ministerial meeting of four countries held in Beijing.

Police from the four will work together to restore shipping and guarantee security along the river, the statement said.

Shipping on the Mekong River has been suspended since two cargo ships were attacked on Oct. 5, resulting in the murder of 13 Chinese sailors.

A headquarters for the initiative will be founded in China and there will be a coordination office in each of the other three countries. They will be linked by a round-the-clock communication mechanism, the statement said.

China will assist Laos and Myanmar police in terms of training and equipment, the statement said.

Police departments of the four countries will also set up a coordination team to work out more security measures along the Mekong River, it added.
Editor: Zhang Xiang

THE Chinese military will conduct a joint rescue exercise with the Australian Defence Force in earthquake-prone Sichuan.

The move comes only a week after Beijing reacted angrily to the announcement the US would rotate marines through Darwin.

The exercise comes as China began extensive naval manoeuvres in the South China Sea.

There is growing concern in the region at China's military build-up and modernisation, including the development of its first stealth fighters and aircraft carriers.

Western and Asian nations have issued calls for more transparency on the multi-trillion-dollar program.

The Weekend Australian has learned Australian officials in Beijing briefed both the Foreign Ministry and the People's Liberation Army a day ahead of US President Barack Obama's announcement that the Australian government had agreed to have 2500 US marines stationed in Darwin.

Reaction was understood to be muted but one diplomat said: "China can take some time to digest things."

But despite the announcement by Mr Obama on his trip to Australia last week, there has been increased contact and co-operation between the Australian and Chinese armed forces in recent years, including a live-ammunition exercise off the Chinese coast last year, which caused inter-departmental ructions in Canberra.

Fifteen Australian army personnel, including a four-person medical team, will travel to China for the exercise next week, code named Co-operation Spirit 11 (CS11).

It will be held at a Chinese army rescue base about an hour outside the city of Chengdu, in the region where the devastating Wenchuan earthquake occurred in 2008, claiming 90,000 lives.

The project is a bilateral Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief planning exercise between the Australian Defence Force and the People's Liberation Army.

The exercise is based on an earthquake disaster response scenario in a fictitious third country, the Defence Department said.

"This exercise is an element of the defence international engagement with China and aims to enhance mutual understanding of respective approaches to a multinational HADR response in a third country," the department said.

In case you are wondering why the "China Navy" 海军 is keeping all those old Shanghai / Hainan class patrol boats around... Well, they do make good sacrificial baits protective screens for the landing ship task force. In this CCTV reported confrontational drill, they were up against a swarm of modern SSM armed 022 Houbeis. I'd like to wish them a happy thanksgiving.

BEIJING - A strategic planning department was set up on Tuesday by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) as the army is rapidly modernizing itself for more sophisticated operations, the PLA Daily's website reported.

The report said the function of the department, which will be administered by the General Staff Headquarters, include: studying of critical strategic issues; drafting plans and reform proposals for the PLA's development; submitting suggestions on the allocation of the PLA's strategic resources and examining and evaluating the implementation of the plans for the PLA's development.

Luo Yuan, deputy secretary-general of the China Society of Military Science, told China Daily the move is in response to increasingly sophisticated military operation in the future that might involve multiple combat forces and headquarters.

"The new department will become an authoritative and comprehensive planning center," Luo said.

Guo Boxiong, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Chief of the General Staff Chen Bingde attended the ceremony that marked the establishment of the department.

The conference came one day after President Hu Jintao met representatives to the Seventh Party congress of the PLA Academy of Military Science.

Hu urged the military academy to closely follow military development trends throughout the world, examine the development of the Chinese army, and pay more attention to the study of strategic issues.

Monday, November 21, 2011

If this is not an one-off, it could mean that there are two shipyards capable of constructing the Yuan class in parallel, one in Wuhan and the other in Shanghai. Assuming money is no object, of course.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Mekong mayhem
New water sheriff
An unprecedented Chinese response to a river’s lawlessness

Nov 19th 2011 | CHIANG SAEN | from the print edition

MIST-DRAPED mountains and the serene ambience of the Thai city of Chiang Saen beguile visitors to the Mekong river in an area dubbed the Golden Triangle. This is where the borders of three countries, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, converge.

But the serenity was shattered on October 5th by the sight of corpses floating downriver. Thirteen Chinese from two commercial vessels had been shot dead near Chiang Saen port and their bodies tossed overboard. Thailand’s police found over 920,000 amphetamine tablets on board the boats, plying between China’s Yunnan province and the Thai port. An angry Chinese government suspended its shipping on the Mekong until better security could be put in place. The ministers of China’s three Mekong neighbours were summoned to Beijing for urgent talks.

At first the Thai army unit with responsibility for anti-narcotics and border security blamed the killings on an armed group of drug-trafficking bandits led by the notorious Naw Kham. But then a huge investigation led by the head of the Thai police, General Priewpan Damapong, sprang a surprise. It uncovered evidence that the shots were fired not from the guns of drug gangs or river pirates, but from the weapons of Thai soldiers. Nine Thai officers from the anti-narcotics unit have since been charged with murder. Embarrassed, Thai authorities insist this is a rogue group, on the payroll of a drug warlord.

The killings have triggered a flurry of measures to beef up security along the waters of the Mekong. Hurriedly, a regional-security agreement was signed on October 31st. All four countries pledged to share intelligence and engage in joint patrols along the stretch of the Mekong between China and the Golden Triangle. The agreement also allows for “special campaigns to eradicate criminal organisations”. Reports from China suggest up to 1,000 of the country’s armed police will fan out along the river: an unprecedented projection of armed force beyond China’s borders. Waterborne traffic between Yunnan and Thailand is expected to resume soon, with armed Chinese guards.

To some neighbours, armed Chinese patrols taking on river pirates and insurgents (much of the drug business is linked to border insurgencies in Myanmar) conjures up images of gunboat diplomacy. They worry about a loss of sovereignty as China polices beyond its borders. One Thai businessman thinks that the new agreement will let China send its own security forces to protect local Chinese interests, such as a casino across the river in Laos and Myanmar. Reports of extortion, kidnapping and drugs at a casino on the Lao border with China forced its closure this year. Much anti-Chinese feeling attends casinos in Laos. China’s gunboats, meant to still tensions, may stoke them instead.